Dictionary of Contemporary Slang (85 page)

interfacing
n

communicating or getting on well. A piece of jargon from the world of computing, transposed by
yuppies
and others into a humorous (or straightforward) synonym for communicating (with) or relating to others.

in the club
adj British

pregnant. This very common expression is in origin a shortening of ‘in the
pudding club
', which dates from the 17th century and is one of many folk expressions using baking metaphors in a sexual context. Pudding is an obsolete euphemism for semen and, more rarely, for the female sex organs.

in the frame
adj

identified as a suspect in a crime. This example of police jargon, in use both in Britain and the USA, is derived either from the simple image of a portrait in a frame or from horse-racing parlance, in which it refers to the practice of displaying the numbers of the winning and placed horses in a metal frame at the end of the race.

in the groove
adj, adv

a.
proceeding smoothly, working well

b.
in harmony with others or with one's surroundings,
au fait
with what is going on Both terms come from the jargon of pre-World War II jazz musicians.

in the shit
adj

in trouble. This common expression has been in use since the mid-19th century if not earlier. It is a vulgar version of ‘in the soup'.

in your eye, in a pig's eye, in a pig's arse
exclamation

an allpurpose expression of violent negation; usually denial, refusal or dismissal. The first two versions are euphemistic alternatives to the third.

iona
adj British

bad. A word used by London schoolchildren in the late 1990s. Its derivation is unclear.

iono!
exclamation American

a lazy pronunciation or internet abbreviation of ‘I don't know'. In use among adolescents since around 2002.

Irish
n British

a
wig
. Rhyming slang from ‘Irish jig'. Wigs and toupées, which attract much notice and derision in cockney circles, are also known as
syrup (of figs), rugs
, ‘mops' or
dogs
.

Irish confetti
n

stones, rocks and other debris thrown during riots and demonstrations

‘The “Irish confetti” was dancing off upraised shields and bouncing and ricocheting all around in the courtyard.'
(P. J. O'Rourke,
Holidays in Hell
, 1988)

iron
n

a pistol or revolver. A slang term of the 19th and early 20th centuries (short for the American ‘shooting iron') which survives in the pages of westerns and crime fiction. Iron was revived in the 1990s by members of US street gangs.

iron (hoof)
n British

a male homosexual. London rhyming slang for
poof
, the expression is an authentic cockney folk term which is still very much in currency.

iron lung
n British

a bribe or gratuity. The term is rhyming slang for
bung
, and occurs in the speech of criminals, the police, sports promoters and journalists.

Irving
n American

a boring person, nonentity. The Christian name was thought in the 1950s to be quintessentially mundane, personifying an urban dullard.

ish
adv, adj

somewhat, approximately, slightly

“Is it really good?” “Ish.”
“Are those two an item?” “No, they're just ish.”

issit?, izzit?
question form, exclamation British

more recent versions of
innit?
, recorded since 2000

ITA
phrase

the letters, used in texting and online, stand for ‘I totally agree'

ite!
exclamation See
aiit!

item
n

1.
a current (sexual) relationship, a couple. An Americanism of the 1970s which became widespread in the 1980s in expressions such as ‘they're an item'. This use of the word began as journalese or jargon of the sort practised by
Variety
magazine, it then passed into show business, ‘society' and, subsequently, teenage usage.

2.
an actual or potential sexual partner. A depersonalising reference, like
unit
, heard typically in the context of US singles' bars since the 1970s.

it rocks!
exclamation See
rock
²
1

ixnay
adj, adv, n

no, not, none. An allpurpose negative formed by the principle of
pig Latin
from the word
nix
, itself derived from the Yiddish and German for not or nothing. Ixnay was heard, particularly in the USA, in the 1950s and 1960s, but is now virtually
obsolete apart from in the phrase ‘ixnay ofay', meaning no white people allowed. Like
nix
it can also function as a verb.

-izzle
combining form American

an allpurpose termination, originally in southern US and black speech, which has become emblematic of
hip hop
and
rap
parlance since 2000. The syllables can be placed after consonants to provide a substitute form of familiar words.

OK, what's the dizzle [deal]?
Fo' shizzle [sure] my nizzle [nigger]
.

j
n

a
joint
(a cigarette containing cannabis). An abbreviation from the jargon of drug users, dating from the mid-1960s.

I rolled a couple of js for the concert.

jabbering, jabbing
n

boastful, deliberately confusing or annoyingly incoherent talk. Defined by one user as ‘talking bullshit', the standard colloquialism became a vogue word among male adolescents from around 2000.

jabs
n pl Irish

female breasts. A vulgarism used typically by males, recorded in 2004.

jack
¹
n

1.
nothing. This fairly widespread sense of the word may derive from an earlier and now obsolete sense of jack meaning very little or a small or insignificant amount. (A synonymous expression is ‘jack shit'.)

We didn't get jack.

2a.
a police officer

2b.
an informer

These British and Australian senses of the word have existed at least since the 19th century.

3. meths
(methylated spirits) as drunk by tramps,
dossers
, etc.

4.
money. A common term in the USA which is also heard in Britain and Australia.

Listen, I just need some jack – in a hurry
.

5a.
heroin. In the argot of prison inmates and addicts in the 1960s.

5b.
a single dose of a narcotic, specifically a tablet of prescribed heroin or heroin substitute

I just scored ten jacks of H
.

5c.
an injection (of an illicit drug)

Give me a jack of that shit you're banging
.

A term from the jargon of addicts since the mid-1960s, probably originating in
Jack-and-Jill
, rhyming slang for
pill
, reinforced by the verb
jack (oneself) up
, meaning to inject.

6.
British
on one's Jack/Jack Jones
, rhyming slang for
alone

jack
²
vb American

to steal, rob, mug or hold up. The term, which became widespread in black streetgang jargon in the late 1980s, was probably a shortening of car-jack (itself modelled on hi-jack), describing armed holdups carried out on passing vehicles, a criminal fashion of the time.

‘You come down here, you goin' get jacked for sure.'
(Recorded, black youth, New York City, May 1995)

jack
³
adj Australian

fed up, tired, weary. To be jack of something or someone has been heard in Australian speech since the early years of the 20th century. It is probably not directly related to the more recent near synonym
jacked off
.

Jack-and-Danny
n British

long-established London rhyming slang for
fanny

Jack-and-Jill
n British

a
pill
, tablet of an illicit or prescribed drug. A rhyming-slang phrase used by drug abusers since the 1960s.

jacked
adj

robbed. A back-formation from the earlier
jacking 2
.

jacked-off/out
adj

annoyed, angry. These 1980s expressions (the first international English, the second primarily North American) are typically used by teenagers and young adults as milder synonyms for
hacked-off
and
pissed-off
.

jacked-up
adj

excited, agitated,
hyper
. This usage, encountered in all anglophone areas, is perhaps related to the verb
jack up
by (probably false) analogy with
hyped-up
.

jacker
n American

a thief, robber

jacket
n American

a personal file, record; particularly a police file or prisoner's dossier. A law enforcers' term, from the jargon of office-workers.

Let's take a peek at his jacket
.

jacking
n

1.
British
talking, gossiping. A version of ‘yakking' heard particularly in the north of England.

2.
American
a robbery, theft

jack off
vb American

to masturbate. This phrase may be a euphemistic version of
jerk off
, or may be based on ‘ejaculate' or on the archaic meaning of jack as the penis or semen.

jack roll
n South African

a
gang bang
. Recorded as an item of Sowetan slang in the
Cape Sunday Times
, 29 January 1995, the expression was previously heard in North American slang where it signified a mugging.

jacks
adj, adv British

alone
. The word, used for instance by students in the 1990s, is taken from the cockney rhyming-slang expression
on one's jack (jones)
.

‘While Kevin was out kicking back somewhere, I was at home, jacks as usual.'
(Recorded, female university student, London, March 1996)

jack shit
n American

nothing. A dismissive or contemptuous term, originally with folksy southern overtones, but now common.

Man, I worked hard all my life and ended up with jack shit
.

jacksie, jacksy
n

the
arse
, anus, buttocks. A fairly inoffensive working-class word, particularly popular in the north of England, jacksie (the form jaxy has also been recorded) dates from the 19th century. It is probably an affectionate diminutive form of the commoner nickname
jack
. Instances of the word in American speech point to a recent borrowing from British usage.

‘The jewel in the jacksie of South London, this place is.'
(
My Beautiful Laundrette
, British film, 1985)

Jack-the-lad
n British

an individual who is cleverer, more successful, more attractive than the rest. Originating in the working-class language of Liverpool and the surrounding area, the phrase had spread to the rest of Britain by the mid-1980s, probably due to the influence of television drama, films, fiction, etc. It can be used to express either approbation or contempt and is a modern example of the coining of male epithets with ‘Jack' since medieval times.

He's Jack-the-lad now, but he'll get his comeuppance
.

jack (oneself) up
vb

to inject (oneself), usually with heroin, but possibly with amphetamines, etc. Apart from
shoot up
, this was probably the most common expression for the practice in the 1960s

Jacobs (cream crackers)
n pl British

the testicles,
knackers
. The rhyming slang, employing the name of a brand of savoury biscuits, was used in the film
Snatch
in 2000.

JAFA
n British

a written and spoken acronym for ‘just another fucking accountant'. Posted in an online discussion of medical professionals' slang by ‘Red the nomadic lawyer' on 21 December 2007.

Jafaican
n British See
MLE

jag
n

1.
a binge, as in a crying jag, cocaine jag, etc. This sense of the word derives from a 17th-century English dialect term originally meaning a burden, later extended to mean a bout (of drunkenness). The word virtually disappeared from British usage in the 19th century, but survived in American slang, whence it was re-imported.

2a.
an injection